Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Newport, Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Newport, Christopher, 1565?–1617, English mariner, commander of early voyages to Virginia. He commanded a privateering expedition to the West Indies (1592) that returned to England with the Spanish ...

ancestor worship

(Encyclopedia)ancestor worship, ritualized propitiation and invocation of dead kin. Ancestor worship is based on the belief that the spirits of the dead continue to dwell in the natural world and have the power to ...

Gallipoli campaign

(Encyclopedia)Gallipoli campaign, 1915, Allied expedition in World War I for the purpose of gaining control of the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits, capturing Constantinople, and opening a Black Sea supply route to...

Ellesmere, Thomas Egerton, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Ellesmere, Thomas Egerton, Baron, 1540?–1617, jurist and statesman. A distinguished early career at law brought him appointment (1581) as solicitor general, and he became a favorite and adviser of Q...

Faisalabad

(Encyclopedia)Faisalabad līˈəlpo͝or [key], city, NE Pakistan, in a cotton- and wheat-growing area. It is an ...

Buckingham Palace

(Encyclopedia)Buckingham Palace bŭkˈĭng-əm [key], residence of British sovereigns from 1837, in Westminster metropolitan borough, London, England, adjacent to St. James's Park. Built (1703) by the duke of Bucki...

Sancroft, William

(Encyclopedia)Sancroft, William săngˈkrôft [key], 1617–93, English prelate, archbishop of Canterbury. His opposition to Calvinist doctrine caused him to remain abroad during the latter part of the Commonwealth...

Burnet, Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)Burnet, Gilbert bûrˈnĭt [key], 1643–1715, Scottish bishop and writer. He studied in Scotland, England, and abroad, held minor ecclesiastical office in Scotland, and was appointed (1669) professor...

Erskine, Ebenezer

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, Ebenezer ûrˈskĭn [key], 1680–1754, founder of the Secession Church in Scotland, minister of Portmoak, Kinross-shire (1703) and of Stirling (1731). He upheld the right of the people to ma...

Hampton, part of Greater London, England

(Encyclopedia)Hampton, since 1965 part of the Greater London outer borough of Richmond upon Thames, SE England, on the Thames River. It is the site of Hampton Court Palace, which occupies about eight acres (3.25 he...

Browse by Subject